Trent Leddo was questioned by the Cinniapolis Safety Department last night at his Reunion home without incident. A CSD source said Mr. Leddo was cooperative but would not answer certain questions without a lawyer. He is being accused of operating a forced labor program by his former students. Mr. Leddo taught Furniture Design at Cinni Prep for 46 years before retiring in 2020. Under his leadership, Cinni Prep students were taught the fundamentals of furniture design. Students participating in the vocational program built everything from wooden sofa frames to fully upholstered leather recliner loungers.

But, Cinni Prep graduates of the program are now accusing their former mentor of profiting from their work in exchange for a passing grade. Their allegations claim Mr. Leddo was running a sweatshop under the disguise of a vocational training program. Mr. Leddo claims he is innocent of any wrongdoing but didn’t deny selling the student-made furniture, “Absolutely we’ve sold a lot of merchandise while I was running the program. But, the proceeds went back to the school’s budget for the design program,” he said.

The Chorus Investigative team combed through the school’s financial records revealing Mr. Leddo’s account is not entirely accurate. Yes, he did direct the proceeds back into the school budget. But, the group of alumni allege Mr. Leddo pocketed the “costs” of the items while delivering only the “profits” to the school. The program materials were all donated. Mr. Leddo and the students would then assign a cost to a finished piece as well as a retail price to better understand market costs and industry mark ups. Then, Mr. Leddo would sell the furniture in partnership with local superstore Thick Pickins. However, he is alleged to have pocketed the cash that was considered “cost”, and only returned the profit margin dollars to the school.

The group of former students, led by Juanito Sanchez, allege Mr. Leddo threatened to fail his students for any furniture project they completed but did not sell at its assigned regular retail. “He failed me my junior year because a dining chair I built sold for 5% off after several weeks of availability. I had to re-enroll in the program my senior year, along with others, to construct more furniture to fatten Mr. Leddo’s pockets,” said Mr. Sanchez. While these allegations portray a dishonest Mr. Leddo, the Investigative team had difficulty validating allegations of forced labor.

But, Mr. Sanchez argues Mr. Leddo’s nice guy demeanor was a facade for a calculating intimidation campaign to keep students enrolled in the program. “Only seniors passed because he couldn’t keep them. He indirectly forced others participate in the program through failing them. It’s not as if he was whipping us or electro-shocking us to participate. But, he held a failing grade or poor performance in other academics over our heads to force participation. And, he pocketed all this money off our forced labor,” said Mr. Sanchez. When asked what would happen if the failing grade was kept or if a student could pass the first time, Mr. Sanchez said, “Impossible. Students passed their first time because a family member would buy their kid’s piece. Well, for those families without extra money to make such a purchase, their items would magically have to be marked down resulting in a failing grade. So, students were forced to re-enroll to get a passing grade or have a large blemish on their transcripts for colleges or jobs.”

Mr. Leddo stands by his tough teaching practices, “This program is to learn the basic skills of furniture construction, in addition to and perhaps more importantly, begin to understand how the professional world operates. There are no second chances. If a furniture maker does not sell their items at full price, eventually they fail. It’s a hard lesson to learn but better to learn it when they are students rather than employees. A failing grade is nothing compared to losing your income,” he said. As far as the money he is alleged to have kept over the years, “I don’t have a comment on that,” he said.